Secondary Education

Joni Finney and Robert Zemsky of the Graduate School of Education spoke about how colleges and universities are trying to plan for the fall semester.

In his book “The College Stress Test,” Robert Zemsky of the Graduate School of Education predicted that 10% of private, liberal arts colleges in the U.S. were likely to close within the next five years. Now, with the pandemic’s damaging effects on school finances, his prediction has changed to 200 schools in the next year alone.

Ira Harkavy of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships contributed to an article about the role of universities in establishing a post-COVID-19 world. “Higher education can add momentum by renewing our commitment to our core values of academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and engagement by students, faculty, and staff, and re-emphasising the role of higher education institutions as societal actors for the public good,” Harkavy and his co-authors wrote.

Jonathan Supovitz of the Graduate School of Education said some families may be reluctant to allow organizations like the College Board extensive access to their private devices for the sake of remote test proctoring. “That’s a big privacy issue, both to lock down your computer and to put some kind of client on your computer to be able to do that,” he said.

S. Abu Turab Rizvi and Peter Eckel of the Graduate School of Education wrote that higher education institutions have led the nation in confronting COVID-19. “They have the opportunity to continue to demonstrate by their actions today the deep societal value of education, research, expertise and community commitment,” they wrote.

Robert Zemsky of the Graduate School of Education said that “dislodging events,” such as COVID-19, can force needed changes in education.